Banks Live Up to Too-Big-to-Fail Name

The largest U.S. financial institutions may still be considered by many to be too big to fail. But in credit markets, far less thought is given anymore by investors to the risk of them actually failing.

For the first time in years, the cost of insuring $10 million of debt against default at all six of the biggest U.S. banks has fallen to about $100,000 or less annually, according to data from Markit. In the wake of the financial...